A federal judge stops the state of Texas from keeping Planned Parenthood from participating in the Women’s Health program. The judge believes the Texas law may be unconstitutional.
Texas officials have said that if the state is forced to include Planned Parenthood, they will likely shut down the program that serves basic health care and contraception to 130-thousand low income women in the Lone Star state.
Planned Parenthood in Houston spokeswoman Rochelle Tafolla says the federal judge made the right call in placing the law on hold “we are just so pleased that he ruled in favor of Texas women so that they can continue to get the basic health care that they need.”
The Judge imposed an injunction against enforcing the Texas law until he can hear full arguments in the case. The state law passed last year by the Republican-controlled Legislature forbids state agencies from providing funds to an organization affiliated with abortion providers. But the judge ruled there is sufficient evidence that the state law is unconstitutional.
Gerald Treece with the South Texas College of Law says ”what this judge did is exactly what you just said, they said you are attacking people not for what they do, but for what they believe which is both a first amendment issue which you have pointed out. But it’s also an equal protection issue.” Treece says “governments can’t pick and choose based on your political viewpoints who gets things and who doesn’t.”
But Treece points out this case has a long way to go and it will likely go before an appeals court that is a lot more conservative in its interpretation of the law.
State Of Texas Goes Up Against Planned Parenthood was originally published on news92fm.com
